


Quiet Moments

by Luxicorde



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Commissioned Work, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, a lil bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:07:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24762844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luxicorde/pseuds/Luxicorde
Summary: A piece commissioned by illustriya on Tumblr for her WoL and Estinien.
Relationships: Iriya Arene/Estinien Wyrmblood, OFC/Estinien Wyrmblood
Kudos: 3





	1. Memories

This was probably the first time Iriya had seen him at peace. Tucked away, the faint candlelight tracing his face and showing off his messy hair. It was also one of the few times she had seen him without his helmet. 

When they first met, Alberic said he wore it to shut people out; particularly people he liked, like a grumpy teenager. Iriya couldn’t help but laugh at the comparison, albeit blushing at the idea. She was quick to write it off as the cold, though Estinien _did_ act like a grumpy teen, always snapping at them and constantly trying to prove himself her better. He was a pain in the ass, but after everything, when he vanished into the night with Nidhogg’s eye Iriya couldn’t deny his skill.

She took a moment to readjust herself, the position starting to make her back ache. Iriya swore up and down to the chirurgeons that she was fine, hardly a scratch, but after a few hours without her battle high, her body started to protest. A full recovery, they assured her, if she actually took the time to rest. Sitting counted as rest, and she told the last healer who checked on them as much before telling him to check on Estinien.

After he left, though, she regretted not asking him to close the window. Iriya knew Estinien hardly minded it, but the last time she had been this cold was after her and Alphinaud fled Ul’dah. The weather had been particularly brutal, enough so that even Haurchefant was shivering. It hadn’t been the only surprise that night, though. 

“You’ve gotten yourself into quite the mess since we last met.”

Iriya sighed, equal parts wanting to tell him off and hug him, despite the spikes.

“Hmph. Go on, I won’t trouble you. You look more tired than I feel.”

Ha. _That_ was the understatement of the century. She turned, finding the man just as unreadable as ever. Arms crossed, mouth drawn in that perpetual frown of his. Before she had the chance to speak, he strode forward, patting her shoulder before heading into the blizzard.

It was probably the nicest thing he’d done since they met.

That softness had only grown with time, and it became _very_ clear to Iriya that it wasn’t an act when Aymeric asked her to look after him in Dravania.

“He doesn’t need me to look after him, Aymeric. He’s perfectly capable of doing that on his own.”

“In a fight, perhaps. But he listens to you, and speaks of you quite often. If anyone could convince him to slow down, it would be you.”

Iriya thought he meant that as his friend, Estinien would listen. 

Ysayle was quick to put that thought out of her mind.

“I don’t know what you see in him.”

“Hm?”

They had all set up camp for the night, Alphinaud leaving to find more firewood while Estinien followed to make sure he came back in one piece. Ysayle had stayed behind, wanting to look out at the skies before the last of the sunset was gone, and Iriya welcomed the warmth from the fire. The mists were even colder than the highlands, and the temperature only dropped as the sun dipped below the horizon.

“ _Estinien_ , the empty-headed brute. You look at him as if he’s plucked the stars from the sky.”

“H-hey! He isn’t empty headed! And I do _not_ -”

“But I am a brute?”

She would never understand how he managed to have both the best and worst timing. At the edge of the firelight, with a rather flustered-looking Alphinaud in tow, Iriya could swear Estinien was _smirking_.

“Of course. But only _I_ get to call you that.”

“By Shiva, you’re proving my point…”

Iriya couldn’t tell who got on her nerves more. Estinien was a strong contender before this little adventure, but Ysayle seemed determined to take his throne.

“N-now now, we are all allies for the moment! Surely we can put this aside until _after_ we confront Nidhogg?”

Sweet Alphinaud, always the diplomat. Iriya knew he must be worried sick, with Estinien yet to wake and the chirurgeons being adamant that there would be no visitors until then. Probably more worried than when, well…

He had been there, watching from the mists as she and Estinien returned from the Aery, fretting over them when he saw the sheer amount of blood they were both covered in. He probably took their smiles as a sign of triumph, and to an extent that was true. But really, it was more like keeping a younger sibling out of an inside joke. Neither her nor Estinien wanted to explain to the boy that Iriya was only covered in blood because Estinien held her close for a kiss to keep her from telling him how reckless and stupid that was. 

He had been with her after that, too. In the deepest part of Azys Lla. She’d killed Thordan, watched as him and the rest of the Heavens’ Ward broke down into raw aether before drifting away. 

Watched as the eyes fell to the floor, rolling about as if Nidhogg was still watching them.

He _had_ been watching.

Iriya hadn’t known at the time, how could she? She could only watch as Estinien walked forward, having followed them just late enough to miss the main event. Watched as he bent down, taking hold of the eyes before she could even think of a way to joke about what happened the last time he’d plucked one from where it belonged.

Could only watch as he shuddered, collapsing to his knees and crying out in pain as the aether around him surged. Within moments, Estinien was gone, and in his place sat the wyrm that they had worked so hard to put down. 

Iriya… didn’t remember much of the ride back. Alphinaud told her afterwards that Midgardsormr had carried her, all while reassuring her that they would save Estinien. He still didn’t know about them, or at the very least didn’t show it if he did. She found it sweet, how optimistic he could be even after Ul’dah, but with every passing day it got harder to imagine this ending any way other than Estinien’s death. Iriya wanted to save him, desperately so, but she didn’t share Alphinaud’s hopeful outlook.

The battle with Nidhogg had been grueling. On his own the wyrm was massive, hardly leaving any room for Iriya or her companions to fight. As a dragoon, she fared better than the rest, keeping in the air and doing her part to bring him down. But while she was fine, the rest of her party was scrambling. If it hadn’t been for Hraesvelgr’s help, she had no doubt her friends would have perished.

Nidhogg said as much when he cast away the illusion, showing them all the remains of Estinien. As he was, he was hardly more than a twisted shell, some terrible mix between her dear friend and the wyrm, with the eyes glaring at them from their sockets in his armor.

The fight was much, _much_ harder after that. With every blow Iriya knew she was hurting Estinien as well. At the end of it all she stood across from him, the wyrm’s aether subsiding for a moment as Estinien’s form was released. She leaned on her spear, watching and waiting for what was to come next. Would the fighting start again? Would Estinien be gone forever, if this truly was the end?

“Kill me!”

Time stopped for Iriya. It was him, it was Estinien’s voice and his alone. She could see it in his eyes -- and for the first time since he was taken from her they were truly _his_ \-- could see that this was the only way he saw out of this nightmare.

The world snapped back into focus when Alphinaud shouted her name.

“The eyes, Iriya!”

She ran forward, leaving her spear behind. Iriya grabbed onto one eye, Alphinaud the other, and pulled.

“Dammit, you fool, _kill me_!”

“I won’t!”

For a split second, it was as if her body wasn’t hers. She could feel everything, the tears on her cheeks, the way her fingers burned against Estinien’s mail, but it was all distant.

Then the eye was out of her hands, sailing over the edge of the wreckage and plummeting into the cloud sea. 

Estinien, sweet, _reckless_ bastard that he was, lay in a heap at her feet.

And yet, after all of that, here he was. Tucked away, at peace, as if the world outside the infirmary had been nothing but kind to him. Iriya reached down, tracing a line from his forehead to his cheek. Just a day ago, his skin was still scarred from Nidhogg’s aether.

She would almost call him pretty, if he hadn’t decided to wake up and scowl at her. 

“You look as terrible as I feel.”

Iriya sighed, the thought of strangling him then and there crossing her mind. 

However, she couldn’t help but smile. He was awake, insufferable as ever and sounding much worse for wear of course, but _awake_.

“You- gods, if I didn’t hurt so much I might’ve picked you up and tossed you out the window.”

Estinien gave a weak chuckle at that, though it came out as more of a rasp and left him wincing. Her anger melted away. Even if he was being boar-headed, Iriya couldn’t stay mad at him while he was in pain.

“You also look as tired as I feel. Come,” he shuffled about under the blanket, making slow progress and keeping his expression in a grimace, “rest with me.”

It didn’t take Iriya long to realize he was trying to move the blanket up for her. It also didn’t take long for her to tell him to stop, hauling herself back to her feet despite her body’s protests, so she could help him.

“I’m well enough to do this-”

“Shut up, Estinien.” She crawled under the blankets with him, taking care that her horns didn’t catch on anything as she moved into his shoulder, tucking herself under his arm. “I missed you.”


	2. The Other End

Sometimes Estinien wished he had stayed with her. 

But he needed time, after everything. Time away from her, from Ishgard, everyone and everything that could serve to remind him about what happened.

At least, that’s what he _wanted_. Before the world once again decided Iriya would be at the center of its problems. For a long while, he was content to watch. It wasn’t his war, and he wasn’t about to _make_ it his. There was so much for him to see beyond that frozen-over wasteland, and now that there was nothing to keep him there, Estinien decided it was time. 

And then a new wyrm blocked the skies, more terrible than Nidhogg and fed with the last of his aether. Even if he couldn’t kill the damn thing himself, it was his responsibility to make sure it stayed dead once Iriya was through with it.

As such, it was his responsibility to make sure she stayed alive to actually deal with the damn thing. The garleans were hardly fond of her, and with the alliance throwing her onto the front lines while the scions took the opportunity to look for the dragon, there was no shortage of trouble for her to find.

And after hearing what had happened at Rhalgar’s Reach, Estinien made sure he was never too far behind Iriya. Every time he found her in her latest mess, he did everything in his power to pull her back out of it. Even with Shinryu, as he watched on powerless from the shadows of the royal menagerie, he was there for her. When the dust settled, and everyone went off to celebrate their victory, Estinien had one last moment to himself to destroy the eyes before Iriya found him.

He didn’t even have time to put his lance back where it belonged before Iriya’s arms were around his waist, cheek and horn pressed into his armor. The rest of the world melted away for him, zeroing in on her. 

If it weren’t for the fact that he was supporting most of her weight, Estinien might have leaned into her. She would be able to handle it, if she weren’t half in the grave from exhaustion.

“I missed you, you idiot.” Her voice was muffled against his back. Estinien practically had to pry her off just so he could turn around and hold her, his arms making a better support than the cold steel of his armor.

“I thought I wasn’t ‘empty headed’?”

“I changed my mind, dammit! You ran off and didn’t tell anyone, and now you’re back like it’s nothing!”

He pulled her a bit closer, feeling the way she shook, even if it was only slight.

“I won’t be leaving again, Iriya. I swear it.”

Estinien let her rest; rather, _made_ her rest after the fighting was over. It was the only way he could get her to sit still for long enough to ask if she would be his, kneeling at her bedside and barely able to keep her gaze as she went from confused to ecstatic.

He barely had time to take another breath, seeing as Iriya went from sitting on the side of the mattress to wrapped around his neck like a squid in the blink of an eye.

It had only been a few moons, but it felt like a lifetime ago from where he stood now, looking out across the battlefield. The sky was black with ash and smoke, the field below him much the same with fires scattered around like orange stars. Things had been so happy for them, so _peaceful_ , even with Iriya’s knack for finding trouble. And now the world had gone to shit again.

He wouldn’t be leaving her side. Not this time. 

He did his best to avoid the fighting as he chased after her. Estinien had seen Iriya rush deeper in, and it didn’t take long for the soldiers to start clamoring about how she meant to fight Zenos. He’d heard the rumors, and even though he had seen the monster fall, he had no intention of letting Iriya face whatever this was alone. 

Aymeric had given him a linkpearl for emergencies, and Estinien only paused to tell him where he was headed. 

When he finally caught up to Iriya, he threw caution to the wind. Estinien watched as she dashed back from Zenos, very much alive and strong as ever as he pursued. He felt as he himself ran forward when Iriya dropped her lance, clutching at her head as she fell to her knees. Jumping to get there faster, he shoved himself between the two, deflecting the blow with his spear before scooping Iriya up and leaping back. 

He ran, as far and as fast as he could and not stopping to look back. None of this would’ve happened if he’d just stayed with her, that bastard would’ve had the good sense to stay dead, they wouldn’t be stuck in another battle after they’d only _just_ won the last one, Iriya would be safe and if he was lucky, Estinien wouldn’t have had to worry about fighting ever again. Life would be nice and peaceful, a far cry from the mess they were stuck in now. 

The rest of the night was a blur to Estinien. He remembered carrying Iriya back to the Alliance’s territory, remembered all of the shouting as Aymeric ran to him, Lucia on his heels, felt the air go from the cloying heat of smoke and ash to the chill of the wind above the clouds as the airship rose higher, carrying them away to Ishgard. 

The next thing he knew, Estinien was being poked awake. At first he thought it was a fly, though it didn’t take long for him to remember that flies usually weren’t able to grab his hand, and they _definitely_ didn’t giggle if they managed to do so. He nearly fell out of his chair when he opened his eyes to find Iriya, sat on the edge of her bed and smiling as if she hadn’t just been dragged from the battlefield. 

“You’re as grumpy as ever, I see.”

Estinien blinked, gently moving her hand away from his ear before she got the chance to flick it again. “How long have you been awake?”

He’d only realized just how worried he sounded when her smile faltered. Iriya brushed a bit of hair from his face, smile returning once he started to squirm. “I’ve been up for about an hour, just didn’t want to wake you up. You should’ve seen it, Lucia practically had to drag Aymeric off of me. He was always quite dramat-”

Iriya stopped, taking a moment to process before slowly wrapping her arms around Estinien. He’d practically collapsed into her arms, breath shaking as he held onto her. 

“It’s alright, you big brute. I’m not going to give out on you just yet.”


	3. Home

Iriya didn’t realize just how much she missed _her_ Mor Dhona until she was back. Lakeland was beautiful, with the amethyst trees and crystal clear lake stretching across the horizon. She had never seen Mor Dhona before the calamity, and while she knew it probably wasn't exactly the same as Lakeland before (and certainly not as purple), she knew it was better than the crystalized wasteland that it had become.

And after so long, after _so much_ on the First, she couldn’t be happier than she was now to stand amongst the crystals again. 

And she couldn’t be more _exhausted_. 

Not only was travelling to and from the Source and the First taxing to say the least, but that on top of nearly succumbing to the light, battling an Ascian more akin to a god, and then having to solve everyone else’s problems before finally coming home was… a _bit_ much. Iriya just wanted to collapse as soon as she made it back to the Rising Stones, but Tataru managed to convince her to stay for just a bit longer.

“He should be arriving any minute now, so just wait a little longer!”

When Tataru and Krile told her that their stand-in Warrior of Light would be arriving soon, she expected Arenvald, or some other fighter with the Echo. Hells, even Fordola would have made more sense than _Estinien_. Estinien, in all his bristly glory, whose jaw hit the floor at about the same time Iriya’s did.

To his credit, Estinien took one look at Krile’s cheeky little grin and kept himself from scooping Iriya into his arms. It had been _moons_ with nary a word about where she was or if she was okay, Tataru and Krile offering little more than ‘Iriya is away and will be back eventually.’ Not that he had much time to worry or question, with the little gremlins roping him into working with the scions. 

Iriya, on the other hand, couldn’t care less about what the rest of them thought when she ran forward and pulled him down by his shoulders so she could wrap her arms around his neck. Estinien couldn’t help the startled gasp as he was dropped down a few fulms, cheek to horn with the Au Ra. 

And he _definitely_ couldn’t help the blush creeping across his cheeks as he caught sight of Tataru and Krile whispering and giggling to each other.

It took a while to get away from Tataru and Krile. The two were reluctant to stop their teasing, and Iriya couldn’t keep herself from joining in when she saw just how red Estinien was. Despite her size, she was _frighteningly _strong, easily keeping him down on her level while she asked all about him working for the scions and his time in Garlemald. He only managed to get away when Krile decided to be merciful, telling Iriya to “go have fun” while waving them off.__

__If he had been any more embarrassed he may have combusted then and there._ _

__Iriya didn’t stop with her questions, even after tugging Estinien all the way back to her room in the Stones. He could see just how tired she was, and wondered just how she was still standing with the dark circles under her eyes and the near-stumbling way she walked._ _

__He couldn’t hold back the snort when she let go of his hand just to flop onto the bed, armor and all. “That tired?”_ _

__A grunt was all he got in response, Iriya rolling as she wriggled out of her armor. Her hair was a mess, and her rubbing against her pillow wasn’t doing it any favors. “You have no idea. I had to go and save another world, and it looked just like ours but not, and G’raha was there, and I almost _died_ , and-” she stopped when Estinien sat down next to her on the bed, gently moving her face up to kiss her. It was only a few moons, but despite how busy he was, he had missed her terribly. Having her home was the best welcome back gift he could hope for, and with their last meeting having her nearly succumb to the same fate as the rest of the scions, he didn’t let himself entertain the idea._ _

__Estinien turned away to pull his boots off, wanting nothing more than to stay there with her, even if only for a short time. He didn’t get the chance before Iriya tugged him down by his ear, pulling him into a kiss that took his breath away before pressing her forehead against his. It took him a moment to realize she was crying, pulling him close and holding onto him like a lifeline. “I missed you _so much_ ,” she whispered, choking it out between quiet sobs. “I missed you _so_ , _so much_ , I didn’t know if I would ever see you again, if I would ever come back-”_ _

__“Shh, shh. It’s alright, Iriya,” Estinien pulled her close, feeling as the tension in her smaller form mounted as she shook from sobbing. “I’m here, now, and you’re safe.” He kissed the top of her head, gently running his fingers through her hair and shushing her as they lay together._ _

__

__They stayed that way for a while, tangled up on top of the sheets and hardly fit for laying in bed. Iriya’s armor was just behind her, cast off like a molted shell, and Estinien’s boots had left quite a muddy stain at the end of the bed. Iriya had long since stopped crying, her form wrapped around Estinien and limp as she slept. Even if he had wanted to move, Estinien was trapped in bed unless he wanted to wake her._ _

__Iriya moved, her hands shifting as she held on just a little tighter. Estinien could faintly feel the imprint of her ring in his back, sighing into her hair as he did. He couldn’t fathom just how far they had to go before the ascians would be gone, or how long it would be until this wretched war with Garlemald would end, but he would hold out for as long as it took if this was what waited for him on the other side._ _

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr name is the same as here, and I have all kinds of short stories there for my own WoLs, mostly done for the FFXIV writing challenge. Also a lot of shitposting.


End file.
